Bingham, George (SCC Newsletter November 1993)

GEORGE BINGHAM. ?1794-1815

height of man 2¼" height of woman 3".

Two silhouettes owned by Derek Lidstone - a member of the Club.-by G.Bingham.

General. Mrs.McKechnie has an entry on G.Bingham in section 4 page 615.

At the time of publication she had not seen an example of his work. However, in recent years several labelled examples of his work have come to light which indicate that he was probably quite a prolific artist. This article is an attempt to update Mrs.McKechnie's entry, but does not in anyway match her erudition. It is possible that other members of the Club may also have works by Mr.Bingham - if so it would be good to hear from you -? with a photo.

His background. Mrs. McKechnie found that a George Bingham was listed in the Manchester Street Directory for 1811 at 21,Ridgefield "but his calling was not given." I have recently been in touch with Manchester Local Studies Unit & have been informed that the first entry for a George Bingham from a Street Directory is 1794 at 10,Ridgefield & his calling is given as an organ-builder. The entry is repeated for 1797. There are entries for 1800&1802 giving his address as 19,Ridgefield. Then there is a gap in the entries until the one recorded by Mrs. McKechnie at 21,Ridgefield. This entry is repeated for the years 1813&1815 without any number in the street. There are then entries for 1819&1820 as well as 1821&1822 at 21,Ridefield & giving his calling as "maker & repairer of barrel organs." Some of his labels - about which I shall deal in a separate section - give an address "The Baths near the Infirmary, Manchester" & others give "the corner of Duke Street near the Infirmary". There are no entries in the Directory for these addresses, but both are within easy reach of Ridgefield. I have a photostat copy of Dean's map of Manchester for 1809 which shows all these locations (-if anyone would like a copy let me know.) I have been in touch with the Musical Box Society of G.B. in the hope that they may know about Mr. Bingham's organ building - but so far nothing has been forthcoming. My request is to be published in the next edition of their Journal in case a member may know something. It is nice to imagine Mr. Bingham pushing his barrel organ around Manchester advertising his silhouettes at the same time!